Me & Christmas...
... and the Terran High Holidays in general
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!
Whoa… where do I begin?
Last year I wrote about gratitude, and bread, and The Bakening, and my annual holiday rituals; and if you’ve ever followed my personal Facebook profile, you surely got a glimpse of my psycho manic holiday mania. I give a play-by-play of my process… literally every single step… so the whole world knows that yeah… I do too much.
Of course, it all starts in October… immediately after Halloween. I make a list of all the tasks I need completed by Christmas eve. I post it on the fridge and my kids look at it and groan. They should be used to it by now. I’ve been doing it for at least 15 years. They’re mostly simple things like dusting and mopping… but there are a few fantasy things like replacing the ceiling tiles in the kitchen’s drop ceiling. That’s never actually been done yet.
I also start stealth-shopping. I see things, usually on Amazon, and think "so-and-so might like that” and I get it. By December 24th, when I’m wrapping gifts, I have no idea where I hid things or why I have a pile of gifts and no idea for whom they were purchased. I usually find the lost gifts during the post-holiday clean-up.
Last Thursday was the last trash day before Christmas. I had cleaned out the fridge to make room for the Christmas Day Brunch cooking, so the trashcan is full. I’ve had packages arriving all week so the recycling bins are full, too. Yeah… my son didn’t get the trash out last week. Now his mission is to get the garbage to the subdivision dumpster. I have no idea what he’s gonna do with the recycling.
Yesterday I baked 20 cakes… The Cakening! It was fun, and I’m not even hurting.
It’s now 8am Christmas eve. I’ve re-cleaned the kitchen and made coffee. This morning I’m making a peach cobbler, 2 cheesecakes, a pecan pie, peanut brittle, and caramel popcorn. Then I start prep for brunch tomorrow…par cooking, chopping, dicing, slicing, buffet setup, and finally finishing decorating.
This year, I’ll have help for the first time ever. My cousins are coming to be sous chefs in the kitchen. Now, all I need is for my sons to get up and help with the pre-cleaning before decorating.
Yeah… today is gonna be hella busy. Then comes Kwanzaa prep. Woohoo!
Happy Holidays!
I can’t believe you had time to write this wonderful post too!
The Cakening and the Bakening are quite the wonders! I hope you have a wonderful time with family (and you get to put your feet up!)